Daugaard Education Bureaucracy Crimping State Library; Chief Librarian Resigns

Last updated on 2012.11.06

I'm hearing rumblings about the Daugaard Administration's ill treatment of our great State Library system. After harsh budget cuts, the State Library may see more of its funding disappear to cover the increased costs of the Governor's bad K-12 education policies.

The State Library performs a number of valuable public services: training our librarians, maintaining public documents, coordinating interlibrary loans (combine in-state and out-of-state figures, and you get over 60,000 books last fiscal year moving through this program alone). While delivering these services, the State Library has seen its support from the state general fund drop 22% since FY2010. The federal government has backfilled some of our librarial neglect with 26% more funding, but the State Library is currently operating with 5% less funding that it did three fiscal years ago.

State Librarian Dan Siebersma listed more of what the State Library does in this five-year plan for use of federal library funds. One of his bullet lists of State Library functions uses every letter of the alphabet: 26 activities just for one program area.

Hired to lead the library in 2007, Siebersma played the good soldier in the face of big state budget cuts. However, at the July 25, 2012 meeting of the State Library Board, Siebersma issued a "severe budgetstorm watch":

• Taking a page from the Meteorologist's Handbook, Siebersma issued a "severe budgetstorm watch" for the State Library. This means conditions exist which could lead to budget problems for SDSL, and we need to be alert to them. Although overall state finances have improved, some departments find themselves strapped for personnel and funds, and SDSL could find itself targeted for cuts to fund these other efforts.
• Siebersma reminded the Board that SDSL has been very successful in implementing an ambitious new Strategic Plan, while at the same time cheerfully absorbing cuts of
• over 30% in state funding and almost 22% in FTEs. We are currently operating at our FY2000 funding level [handout].
• The State Library is not seeking additional funding, but we also cannot absorb more significant cuts in staff or funding without cutting programs that serve others [handout].
• Siebersma reiterated that a €œbudgetstorm watch€ means there is no crisis right now, but conditions warrant being alert [South Dakota State Library Board, regular meeting minutes, July 25, 2012].

According to some librarian friends, Siebersma thought he saw a break in those gathering clouds. Increased state revenues encouraged him to propose enhancements to existing programs and possible new programs in the next five-year library plan. After submitting his ideas, Siebersma heard from higher up that new Department of Education funds (the State Library is a healthy apple on the DOE branch of the budget) would be focused on fulfilling the requirements of the Governor's education reform agenda.

Last month, Siebersma resigned. The State Library Board recognized his laundry list of his accomplishments and appointed Daria Bossman interim director.

Now nothing is written in stone (or even in Google: I'm working from what folks tell me, not from any published proposals that I could link here). But let me say this: the State Library system, through its training of my local librarians, interlibrary loan, and online services, does more tangible good for my family than the Common Core Standard implementation, state-mandated teacher evaluation, or any of Governor Daugaard's other K-12 reform ideas that will increase K-12 education's administrative overhead. If we have money to put into the state Department of Education, we will get more bang for the buck by restoring the State Library budget than we will hiring bureaucrats to count test bubbles and evaluation forms.

Legislators, keep an eye on the State Library budget line in 2013.